Jyoti Amge

Jyoti Kisanji Amge was born on December 16, 1993 in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India to Kishanji Amge and Ranjana Amge. She has three sisters – Rupali, Vaishali and Archana and a brother named Satish. By the time she was three years old, her parents became worried about her short stature and consulted doctors who, after performing thorough check-ups, confirmed that she suffers from a form of dwarfism called Achondroplasia and will not grow much taller. Despite knowing that she would not grow like her peers, her parents raised her like any other child. She attended a regular school since she was 4 years old. During her early years, she lived like any other teenager, with interest in fashion and makeup. She also loved to spend a lot of time on the phone.

Dwarfism could not hold back Jyoti Amge's childhood dream of becoming an actress. Slowly but surely, she made use of the hype around her to launch an acting career, soon after she celebrated her 18th birthday with an official entry into the Guinness Book of Records in 2011. She had previously been featured alongside Bollywood singer Mika Singh in his album ‘Party Special’ in 2007. In 2009, she was featured in an hour-long documentary titled ‘Body Shock: Two Foot Tall Teen’ which was shown in India on National Geographic channel. In 2012, she guest starred in ‘Bigg Boss 6’, but her big break came when she was cast in the American horror television series, ‘American Horror Story: Freak Show’. Talking about her role in it, she stated that the name of the show didn't deter her from being in it as she realized that the actors were not actually freaks. She even enjoyed her time during the shoots as the show was not a traditional TV series which usually requires professional acting skills. In fact, she was able to do various fun activities while shooting.

Some of the issues Jyoti Amge struggled with while growing up included picking up things kept on high desks, difficulties in finding various items that suited her size and especially difficulty in finding dresses for her size. For this reason, she had to get custom-made clothes and jewelry and also could not use normal sized utensils. However, once she became popular, stores near her house often called her to tell about new stocks of clothes and other items that might suit her. But according to an interview on ‘Entertainment Tonight’, what frustrated her most about being extremely short was the fact that strangers often treated her like a baby or a doll. On many occasions, she has even been picked up by strangers after mistaking her for a child.

But the main challenge that she faces right now has to do with her bones as they are getting more and more brittle with every passing year. This has kept her family worried for the last few years. While travelling around the world, she is always accompanied by either her mother or her older sister Archana, who feels that it is her responsibility to take care of her younger sister as their parents are aging. Though her height has posed her many challenges, she is proud of her height as being on Guinness Book of Records has allowed her to visit various places.

In September 2017, at the age of 23, Jyoti Amge drew public attention due to the controversy regarding her marital status. A person from the United States of Indian origin circulated fake images online, claiming that they were married. She confirmed that she is single and filed a complaint against the person at the Cyber Crime Wing of Nagpur police.